The Nigerian Islamist who allegedly attempted to detonate a bomb on a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has brought Yemen once again into the spotlight as a breeding ground for terrorists. Abdulmutallab is thought to have trained with Yemen's Al Qaeda affiliate, and the group has claimed credit for the failed attack. Yemen has long been a place of concern. Last month, before the attempted airliner bombing, the United States facilitated a missile attack against two suspected Al Qaeda strongholds in Yemen.

The Al Qaeda wing in Yemen that claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing last week of a Northwest Airlines flight has as many as 2,000 militants and sympathizers exploiting the country's economic and political chaos to create a base for jihad at the edge of the Persian Gulf, according to a Yemeni terrorism expert. The group, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is the latest reincarnation of Islamist militant cells that have been active in Yemen for years.

The Al Qaeda wing in Yemen that claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing last week of a Northwest Airlines flight has as many as 2,000 militants and sympathizers exploiting the country's economic and political chaos to create a base for jihad at the edge of the Persian Gulf, according to a Yemeni terrorism expert. The group, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, is the latest reincarnation of Islamist militant cells that have been active in Yemen for years. The country has supplied extremists to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to terrorist networks stretching from North Africa to Europe.

Yemen's emergence as a center for Al Qaeda activity has added another complication to the Obama administration's plan to close the U.S. military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yemenis make up the largest bloc of the remaining detainees. This month, six men from that country were sent home, and their lawyers expected that up to 40 more could soon be released from Guantanamo. Now that an Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has claimed to be behind the attempted bombing of an airline flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day, however, the lawyers fear the administration will block further releases.

The president's new mosque shimmers over this ancient city like an illusion of stability against images of MIG fighter jets screeching overhead toward rebellion in the north or the latest news of pirates seizing ships in the treacherous Gulf of Aden. In Sana's snug alleys, men speak of war, secession and Al Qaeda, which is busy scouring schoolyards and mosques for new recruits while much of the population spends hours each day getting a mellow buzz from chewing khat leaves.

In the scorching deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, water is always precious, carefully rationed, never wasted. Possessing it separates life from death. What a difference a few miles -- and bucket loads of money -- can make. At Atlantis, the Palm, Dubai's latest and possibly greatest luxury hotel to date, water is an ornament and a plaything. It flows in ridiculous, seemingly endless quantities, simply for the pleasure of it.

Officials raised the death toll from a grenade attack in northeastern Somalia to 21 and said 100 were wounded. The grenade blew up Tuesday in a crowded neighborhood in Bossaso, a port town in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, officials said. Most of the victims were believed to be Ethiopians on their way to find work in the Arabian Peninsula, which lies across the Gulf of Aden, officials said. No one has claimed responsibility, but the attack was believed to have been related to animosity between citizens of Ethiopia and Somalia.

The bodies of nearly 50 would-be immigrants washed up on Yemen's shores after their boat capsized in the Gulf of Aden. Thirty-five survivors told authorities that at least 135 Somalis and Ethiopians were crowded into the rickety boat, indicating that dozens more may have lost their lives. The search continued for bodies along the beaches of Abyan province, said an official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. Hundreds of Africans die every year trying to reach Yemen, many of whom drown or are killed by pirates and smugglers in the dangerous waters separating Somalia and the Arabian peninsula.

An international team of archeologists attempting to retrace a Bronze Age trade route by sailing from Oman to India in a reed boat had to be rescued this week by the Omani navy. The 40-foot craft was made of reeds, date palm fibers and tar. It had a wool sail and two teak oars. The team made it seven miles from the port of Sur in Oman before the boat sank.